7 cert, Digital Reality, Xbox Live (also PlayStation Network, PC)

Readers with strong memories might remember my rave review of Sine Mora a few months ago. At the time, I gushed that Digital Reality knew how to make retro games, work within tight parameters and freshen old genres. Sadly, it turns out that’s not always the case. Bang Bang Racing is a top-down, 2D moto game (echoing Micro Machines) with up to four-player local multiplayer. For the most part it’s a simple, rough-and- tumble muscle car showdown. The controls are unfussy – accelerate, break and boost. It should’ve been a blast, but Bang Bang Racing is a litany of little disappointments:

the tracks are barely distinguishable when they should be colourful and varied; it’s sluggish instead of hectic, repetitive instead of surprising. Digital Reality has a gift for making lively, inventive, old-fashioned games, but

Bang Bang Racing feels like a sparse, barely complete product. As the game itself says to its losing drivers: “Better luck next time”.